WASHINGTON: The United States designated on Tuesday Khan Said Sajna, the deputy leader of outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a global terrorist.

The designation list also includes Ramzi Mawafi, a former physician of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Both have been designated under an executive order targeting terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism.

Khan Said became TTP’s deputy leader following the death of Wali-ur-Rehman in May 2013. Said has had experience fighting in Afghanistan, is believed to be involved in the attack on a Naval base in Karachi, and is also credited with masterminding a 2012 jailbreak in which the Taliban freed 400 inmates from a prison in Bannu.

Said leads the Mehsud faction, which split from TTP in May 2014. In a public statement following the split, Said stated his continued commitment to terrorist activity.

Ramzi Mawafi is an Egyptian national and long-time Al Qaeda member best known as the former doctor to Osama bin Laden.

The consequences of these designations include a prohibition against US persons engaging in transactions with Said and Mawafi, and the freezing of all property and interests of Said and Mawafi in the United States, or come within the United States or the possession or control of US persons.

The US Treasury Department, which keeps a record of these designations, also deleted some key Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders from the list, as they are believed dead.

Last month, the Obama administration designated 21 people and three groups as global terrorists. Most of them were militants operating in the Middle East.

In the last week of September, the United States put Fazlur Rahman Khalil, the long-time emir of Harakat-ul-Mujahideen, on its list of global terrorists. His group was listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation in 1997.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2014